The Boy Mayor of New York

John Purroy Mitchel (July 19, 1879 – July 6, 1918) was the 95th mayor of New York from 1914 to 1917. At age 34 he was the second-youngest ever; he is sometimes referred to as “The Boy Mayor of New York.” Mayor Mitchel is remembered for his short career as leader of Reform politics in New York, as well as for his early death as an Army air officer in the last months of World War I. Mitchel’s staunchly Catholic New York family had been founded by grandfather and namesake John Mitchel, an Ulster Presbyterian Young Irelander (Irish nationalist supporter) who became a renowned writer and leader in the Irish independence movement.

As the mayoral election approached in 1913, the Citizens Municipal Committee of 107 set out to find a candidate that would give New York “a non-partisan, efficient and progressive government.” After nine ballots, Mitchel was nominated as a candidate for mayor. During his campaign, Mitchel focused on making City Hall a place of decency and honesty. He also focused on business as he promised New Yorkers that he would modernize the administrative and financial machinery and the processes of city government.

At the age of 34, Mitchel was elected mayor on the Fusion (Party) slate as he won an overwhelming victory, defeating Democratic candidate Edward E. McCall by 121,000 votes, thus becoming the youngest mayor of New York City to that date. He was often referred to as “The Boy Mayor of New York.”

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